It’s time to party like it’s 1998. Yooka-Laylee, the old-school 3D platformer that took Kickstarter by storm in 2015, is finally arriving. If the musical puns in the title and cartoon animal duo didn’t tip you off, Yooka-Laylee is designed as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, developed by a team of many of the folks that worked on the original game at Rare. By channeling the same bright visuals and classic gameplay, Playtonic Games is hoping to cash in on our collective nostalgia with a game that does its lineage justice.

Yooka-Laylee (April 11th)

Why we’re excited: Character platformers have more or less vanished in 2017, and Yooka-Laylee represents some of the people who first made the genre great coming back to breathe new life into it. The early buzz: The game is currently hovering at around a 70 out of 100 average on allthreeplatforms on Metacritic. EGM’s Ray Carsillo called the game “a love-letter in every imaginable way to classic 3D platforming adventures of the N64 days” in his review. A bad rap: Want more evidence for Yooka-Laylee‘s retro bona fides? Composer Grant Kirkhope revisited one of the darkest moments in his past, creating a new rap song in the vein of Donkey Kong 64‘s notorious “D.K. Rap.”

Cosmic Star Heroine (April 11th)

Available for: PS4, PCPublisher: Zeboyd GamesDeveloper: Zeboyd Games

Why we’re excited: Developer Zeboyd has made its name with impressive homages to classic JRPGs, and Cosmic Star Heroine is its most ambitious project yet. The early buzz: No reviews are out yet, but that’s to be expected. This is a game in a genre that’s known for sprawling, lengthy adventures. If you’d like to see it in action to decide for yourself, Zeboyd put out 30 minutes of gameplay a while back. Inactive time battle: Want to know how long Cosmic Star Heroine has been in the works? EGM’s Josh Harmon, not exactly a JRPG fan, loved the game (especially its twist on turn-based battles) when he first played it—all the way back in December of 2014.

The Sexy Brutale (April 11th)

Why we’re excited: A murder-mystery game with a time-travel mechanic in the vein of Groundhog Day (or The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, if that’s your speed), The Sexy Brutale sounds like an imaginatively different game that’s worth your attention. The early buzz: The game is already doing quite well on Metacritic, with the PS4 version of the game holding an 82 out of 100 average on Metacritic. That includes at 10 out of 10 from Jim Sterling at The Jimquisition. Rime or reason: Tequila Works is coming out fast and furious in 2017. The studio’s next game, the minimalist, Ico-style adventure game Rime is coming out next month.

The biggest new games out this week: April 11th–17th

Read on to get the lowdown on all the new releases, including our picks for the most exciting games out this week.

It’s time to party like it’s 1998. Yooka-Laylee, the old-school 3D platformer that took Kickstarter by storm in 2015, is finally arriving. If the musical puns in the title and cartoon animal duo didn’t tip you off, Yooka-Laylee is designed as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, developed by a team of many of the folks that worked on the original game at Rare. By channeling the same bright visuals and classic gameplay, Playtonic Games is hoping to cash in on our collective nostalgia with a game that does its lineage justice.

Yooka-Laylee (April 11th)

Why we’re excited: Character platformers have more or less vanished in 2017, and Yooka-Laylee represents some of the people who first made the genre great coming back to breathe new life into it. The early buzz: The game is currently hovering at around a 70 out of 100 average on allthreeplatforms on Metacritic. EGM’s Ray Carsillo called the game “a love-letter in every imaginable way to classic 3D platforming adventures of the N64 days” in his review. A bad rap: Want more evidence for Yooka-Laylee‘s retro bona fides? Composer Grant Kirkhope revisited one of the darkest moments in his past, creating a new rap song in the vein of Donkey Kong 64‘s notorious “D.K. Rap.”

Cosmic Star Heroine (April 11th)

Available for: PS4, PCPublisher: Zeboyd GamesDeveloper: Zeboyd Games

Why we’re excited: Developer Zeboyd has made its name with impressive homages to classic JRPGs, and Cosmic Star Heroine is its most ambitious project yet. The early buzz: No reviews are out yet, but that’s to be expected. This is a game in a genre that’s known for sprawling, lengthy adventures. If you’d like to see it in action to decide for yourself, Zeboyd put out 30 minutes of gameplay a while back. Inactive time battle: Want to know how long Cosmic Star Heroine has been in the works? EGM’s Josh Harmon, not exactly a JRPG fan, loved the game (especially its twist on turn-based battles) when he first played it—all the way back in December of 2014.

The Sexy Brutale (April 11th)

Why we’re excited: A murder-mystery game with a time-travel mechanic in the vein of Groundhog Day (or The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, if that’s your speed), The Sexy Brutale sounds like an imaginatively different game that’s worth your attention. The early buzz: The game is already doing quite well on Metacritic, with the PS4 version of the game holding an 82 out of 100 average on Metacritic. That includes at 10 out of 10 from Jim Sterling at The Jimquisition. Rime or reason: Tequila Works is coming out fast and furious in 2017. The studio’s next game, the minimalist, Ico-style adventure game Rime is coming out next month.